Consumer goods major and maker of brands such as Ujala and Pril, Jyothy Laboratories, which is also in the business of laundry services with FabricSpa, intends to use data analytics to customise laundry services for its customers.

Ullas Kamath, Joint Managing Director of the company, says analytics will help the company understand the frequency of wash cycle of a customer, quality of clothes given for laundry and the kind of wash needed. Based on that data FabricSpa will work out a monthly package for a household.

“Then their budget is fixed for a month. If I say it’s ₹120 a shirt to wash and iron, it looks expensive, but as a package we can offer the service. There are a lot of bachelors or long-stay clients in hotels who we can offer this service to,” says Kamath.

Fabric Spa is a rapidly growing business for Jyothy, as a company in the detergents and fabric care space. “Laundry services have done well across the world. In India, with the scarcity of water and the dhobi culture shrinking, we should do well,” says Kamath.

FabricSpa, which was set up five years ago, has 120 outlets across the country and earns ₹50 crore a year in revenues. By 2016 it expects to operate 300 outlets.

The Indian Railways is Jyothy’s biggest customers. It has set up a laundry in Ahmedabad to wash 16 tonnes of railway linen a day. Altogether with its other units, Jyothy washes 30,000 pieces a day for the railways. In retail, where the margins are better, through FabricSpa, it washes at least 35,000 pieces a day — put together that’s 50 tonnes a day of washing.

From the Railways alone it earns ₹10-12 crore a year. The company has a first mover advantage in this capital intensive industry where it has invested ₹200 crore in land, building and imported machinery. The nearest competitor washes five tonnes a day. “By March 2016 we expect to break even in this business and no more investment is required,” adds Kamath.

But, washing for the Railways is a growing business. The Railways, he says, plans to have a laundry in another 34 centres and in future, every big station will have these kind of facilities, like the one Jyothy has set up in Ahmedabad. “Five such laundries have already come for a tender and we have put in our bids,” says Kamath. Each unit will entail ₹15 crore in investment.

Correction

This news story was amended on May 19 2015. An earlier version had mistated Jyothy Labs' earnings from FabricSpa and the Railways.

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